Coudal Partners

another puzzle from michele

Da Vinci’s Other Code

As steam rises off the nervous surface of the water in his black marble bathtub, a frail,
tired Leonardo Da Vinci considers his fate. Stymied on how to make a mechanical dragon he has been constructing spout real flames, he turns his
attention to an episode that occurred in the market earlier that day.

A small boy placed something in
his hands and darted away into the crowd. DaVinci now examined it.

It was a small, long, plain wooden box, containing eight blocks, each intricately engraved with a single letter.
The letters had to be arranged
in their box according to the following rules:

1. H was two places to the left of U.

2. T was three places to the left of M.

3. A was two places to the right of U.

4. X was two places to the right of O.

However, the cryptic instructions stated that
exactly one relationship was a lie.

Of course, Leonardo soon realized there were many possible
solutions. Then, just as he was recovering the
soap from between his toes in the water he saw
his arrangement, which made no particular word in
the box, with the M four places from H and three
to the right of the W. What was Leonardo's
solution?

Note I: We were tempted to include the phrase "show your work" with the rules for entry but then we figured that any dork who would
Google a puzzle like this in order to win would have to live with self-loathing and guilt for the rest of their life and that
would far outweigh the value of the prize package.

Note II: Also big thanks to puzzlemaster Barry R. Clarke for permission to adapt one his beauties for this.

Note III: We've received a flood of wrong answers and even a couple correct ones. Some people have
attached diagrams and and other visual evidence supporting their work. We love that, but unfortunately can't show them yet. It wouldn't be fair.

Note IV: OK, you've tried the puzzle and been frustrated or you've tried the puzzle and think you have it right or maybe even you
took a look at the puzzle and gave up right away. In any case, here is the solution.